CheerupSilver Very Cool!!!

Colibel Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

caspian1978 Funny man Ben Stiller is more than just a comedian. Comedy is at many times, harder to capture than drama. American knows him as the funny and over the top actor who has made his "mark" in movies like There's Something About Mary and Meet the Parents. In Permanent Midnight, Still is still funny but also convincingly dramatic. Having to play the role of the Hollywood writer who is without passion, except for his drug habit, Stiller is amazing from beginning to end. Many of the Ben Stiller Show alumni return to do cameos including long time friend Owen Wilson. A great cast and a great story, the movie is enjoyable because there is no lying. This is an "In you face" true story. Stiller has no need to have to prove himself to Hollywood that he is a great actor who has faith in his craft.

Ace_of_Sevens With a cast that includes Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson and Janeane Garofalo, many people probably came into expecting a comedy. The trailer also sort of implied this. While Permanent Midnight has its funny moments, it's basically a drama.While this is based on the true story of TV writer Jerry Stahl, it fictionalized a bit. The shows Jerry works on in the movie are stand-ins for the ones he worked on in real life, for instance. Probably to avoid licensing issues.This was David Veloz's first (and to date, only) directorial job and it shows. It's not the direction is bad, but it's certainly nothing special and there are a few places where it's a little hard to follow.This doesn't drag the movie too far down though as it rests largely on the actors, specifically Ben Stiller, who shows any naysayers here that he can do drama. He does a great job portraying someone who's a likable guy with a pretty decent life who just keeps using more and more drugs until he starts freaking out in public, shooting up into his jugular and generally wrecking everything and losing whatever self-respect he had.Despite the subject matter, Permanent Midnight avoids becoming too depressing through bits of humor, a short (88 min) running time and an optimistic perspective.I doubt this is the best movie for scaring your kids off drugs, but recommended for people who like stories about overcoming or are fans of Jerry Stahl or any of the actors.

cmarty I disagree with the previous comment. This is a very good movie about the horrors of drug addiction. It would be of particular interest to Ben Stillere fans interested in seeing him in a straight drama (as opposed to comedy)...

TxMike SPOILERS - Even thought this is a pseudo-autobiography, in the movie it is presented as the story of Jerry (Ben Stiller) in recovery, meeting a girl (Maria Bello) in recovery, and the two of them trying to figure out if they can make a go of it, initially meeting at a cheap motel for casual sex, and by the end of the movie realizing they love each other. Their conversations result in a number of Jerry's memories which are shown in flashback form.Whether this is a good movie depends on what one expects to get out of it. "Permanent Midnight" tries to be entertaining in spots. To wit, Jerry picks up a German girl, they have meaningless sex, and at climax she yells, "My God, my God, I'm being f**ked by a Jew!" Very marginal humor. This is not a very entertaining film, but it is gripping simply for the realization that some people actually try to navigate their lives that way. During this period, the real Jerry Stahl was writing for popular 1980s series like "Moonlighting", "Alph", and "Northern Exposure." Anyway, during his addiction phase Stahl represents himself as a person with little self-control, lying, needing drugs to get through any stressful situation. Then, when he first tries to rehabilitate, bad friends drag him down. I am glad I saw this film, however I cannot recommend it strongly. However, I now realize that thirty-something Maria Bello might be my new favorite female actress, after seeing her here, in "Coyote Ugly" and in "Duets." She is uniquely attractive and a very natural actress, I think I could enjoy watching her in anything!